[T] [Thief/Open] 1 - Introducing Renik The Slip
The Scythe
easy to play around with. It'll give me breaks between the heavy
lifting of [Unlikely Twins] posts. Renik is a cutpurse and pickpocket
of little consequence to anyone, including himself. This thread will
be open at all times. Anyone can post at any time, whether a single,
one-time post, or a full commited character, or even short visits from
characters from other threads.
Feel free to hunt him, notice him, comment on him, or be available to
be stolen from him, at your pleasure.
[Thief/Open] 1 - Introducing Renik The Slip
[Renik]
It was market day in Montfort again, the second best day ever. The
BEST days in Montfort were festival days. On festival days there was
so much food and money laying around people were basically giving it
all away. On top of that, only the most tight-fisted of the merchants
kept track of where all their money was going on festival days, so who
would notice a few coppers here or a silver piece there. But it was
market day, and that meant food and money.
A young boy walked through the stalls and the crowd, somewhere between
eight and twelve years of age. Even he wasn't certain exactly. He
was certain of his two names though. He'd been given the name Renik
at the orphanage, and his second name he took for himself. He and his
clothing were a little grimy, but no worse than many of the poor
children, and better than some of those.
The boy had slightly shaggy hair, sandy-blond, and brown eyes that
roved the people and stalls looking for a mark. He had a worn tunic
that had started out life white, but now was a middle-brown, and brown
britches. His best clothing was on his feet. They were a pair of
well-made sandals from the stall of the best cobbler in town.
Quality, but not flash. He'd spent two months staking out that
cobbler to get them. To stay out of sight, you couldn't show off, he
knew, but when it came time to run preparation was key. He'd been
sent back to the orphanage a few times already and had learned what
got you caught.
Right now he was keeping his eye on two stalls right together, a
baker's cart and a fruit stand. A single pass between them and he'd
have breakfast, lunch and dinner. Now he needed something else. He
passed halfway around the edge of the market before he saw the
solution. Coming up the road to occupy his pen was Hanta, the hound
breeder. He and his son held the leash on five hounds each, all
straining and pulling the man and boy along. Perfect. He started
towards them through the crowd. Timing would be everything. Coming
up from the side and slightly behind, the thief picked his spot, just
before they reached the bread cart. There he "tripped" with an
exclamation, landing on hands and knees right behind the hounds.
Confusion and chaos! Focused on the hounds, Hanta was to late to
react and went face first over the thief's back. Needless to say, the
leashes slipped and there were suddenly hounds everywhere! One leaped
up on Hanta's son to lick his face, and the boy lost his dogs too.
Ten hounds in the busy marketplace. People jumped, ran, tripped,
fell, and were bowled over. The meat vendor's cart would've tipped
except he beat off two of them with a stick.
Renik stood up smoothly and headed out of the market straight between
the bread cart and the fruit stand. With his left hand he took a loaf
of bread. With the right, a red and green apple. These went into the
ample pockets of his loose britches. He grinned at the commotion
behind him as he made his escape. It was even bigger than he'd
planned. In fact, it would've been perfect to pick up even more food,
or some coin. But that wasn't his way. You got caught by tempting
fate, and his name wasn't The Slip for nothing.
storytlr
[Lucc/Serun/Portia and daughters/Kit]
"I am thinking some chocolate will be in order," Portia was saying as
she stopped by one merchant to look at the plumb red garnet fruit,
whose skin was so translucent that the light made the juice within
seem to have a hidden gleam, but still a skin so tough it required a
knife to cut. "These are always nice highlights to a table," she
added, pushing her wire rim glasses up her delicate nose. Slightly
behind her, and keeping an eye to the activity around them was her
bodyguard, Lucc. He was a young man of average height, with his sun
bleached brown hair pulled into a que at the back of neck. His
clothing was cut for comfort, but was of good weave and make.
"Though I would suggest, Dame Mercene," Lucc said, "That Dean Mercene
put a containment spell on them. I still remember what happened when
Emphie cut into one. It took a bit to get the juice out of
everything."
"They do present some problems eating them," she agreed as she turned
away from the booth, and gave her bodyguard a mischievious smile, "But
they are well worth the explosion."
The uproar ahead of them brought Lucc's attention sharply around, and
after noting the direction of the chaos, which was rapidly approaching
them, he firmly and hastily urged his charge towards the shelter of a
nearby bakery.
"What by the...!!" Serun said as he, and his own charges, came between
some stalls. He was the taller, and more muscular of the two
bodyguards, with darker hair, and as he too saw that the hounds were
moving towards them - he pushed the two girls back to their mother.
AAAwwhoooOOOOO echoed with pain in the cry.
And it was only due to practice that Serun caught hold of Emphie as
the eight year old tried to dart out.
She didn't fight him, but declared, "One of the puppies is hurt!!
Please go see!!"
Serun caught his friend's eye, and Lucc gave him a nod, and said, "I
can keep track of them."
After firmly placing Emphie back with her sister, Alisha, their
bodyguard worked his way over to where one of the younger dogs had
gotten both himself, and his leash, tangled in some wagon wheels.
"What is happening?" Portia asked, since she couldn't see around Lucc.
"It looks like Hanta has lost all of his hounds," Lucc answered.
His attention was caught by a short, familiar bark, and he caught a
glimpse of russet as a fox darted into the path of the hounds.
The baying grew louder and the path of the dogs became more focused as
they caught the whiff of musk, and saw the fox weaving through cul-de-
sac.
"I have one of them," Serun said, leading a half-grown hound pup
towards. His own gaze noted the path of the other dogs, and he kept a
tight hand on his captive's leash. "Do you think she'll need help?"
"Is the puppy all right?!" Emphie demanded from behind her sister.
"He wasn't hurt," Serun answered kindly.
"I'll go check on her," Lucc said once Serun was back.
After following the crowd, and the easily heard baying, Lucc could see
that the fox had scrambled up on top of some crates, with the pack
scrambling below - easy game for any to grab the leashes.
ShadoWolf
Atop some empty crates set aside for disposal, sat an orphan boy. He
looked to be quite ordinary with his shaggy brown hair, dirty rough
spun tunic and torn bitches, although his sandals were clean and well
made. His bright blue eyes closely watched Renik as he cased the
market. Munching on an apple, he took in every detail as the young
thief put his simple plan into action and smoothly escaped diverting
nearly all attention elsewhere.
“Poetry in motion,” the orphan muttered appreciably to himself,
watching Renik confidently walk away as if everything was completely
normal, when in fact the market was in chaos.
Gracefully jumping down from the piled crates, he tossed his apple
core, halfway between hand and crate the core mysteriously vanished.
Casually holding both hands palm up before him, a green apple suddenly
appeared in one hand, a red one in the other. He dropped the apples
into his britches' ample pockets, exactly as Renik had. Returning to
the same palm up gesture, the orphan made a loaf of bread appear.
Comparing his creation to the loaves in the upset cart, his flattened,
shortened, and became more golden. Holding his loaf exactly as Renik
had, the blue eyed orphan followed the young thief, walking exactly as
Renik had.
The Scythe
[Renik The Slip]
Once sure that no one was after him, especially the bread and fruit
vendors, Renik made several quick turns and ended up at one of his
usual hangouts. It was the loading dock of a little-used warehouse
labeled Dry Goods in faded, craked letters. It also had a convenient
view of the market, although it was down the street quite a ways.
Several of the other urchins he knew were already there. Renik ran up
the steps and plopped himself down, legs over the edge. Knowing how
they'd react, he pulled the bread out of his pocket.
"Having a good day, lads?" he asked as he tore himself a piece. He
was tempted to gloat about the commotion he'd made in the market, but
held his tongue.
A couple of them tried not to show how hungry they were. One pulled
out a half-eaten kabob, and he and Renik traded bit for bit. As he
chewed openly, Renik looked over the market.
"Still a long day, with plenty of opportunitites. Take that noble
lady there. I'd wager a wart to a wallet that she's loaded. Take a
gander, fellas," he said, motioning with his bread. Dake, Kant, if
you two can get her to part with some coin, I'll trade you half each
of this," and he pulled the red and green apple out of his pocket.
The two of them hopped right off the loading dock and headed towards
the Mercene group.
When they got nearby, warily eyeing Lucc and Serun, they sang out
together,
"Alms for poor, miss?"
Back at the warehouse, one of the other boys nudged Renik.
"Look there, Ren," he murmured, tossing his head up the street the way
Renik had come earlier. "You got a shadow today, or what?" he added,
meaning the newcomer who'd followed Renik to the warehouse.
Out in the market, a cursing Hanta and his son dragged the excited
hounds one at a time to their pen. They'd started with the ones
attacking the meat cart, so the group that'd chased Kit, the fox, to
the crates was still loose, and barking up a storm. The leashes were
out, but so far none of the irritated passersby had tried to help
catch them.
The Scythe
storytlr
[Serun/Portia/Daughters]
Before Emphie could come forward to see the dog Serun was hanging onto
her step-mother's hand lightly touched her shoulder. At the sound of
the urchins' question Portia had noted the minute change in Serun's
attention. Her bodyguard had become even more alert, though not
tensed. She understood that in Montfort nothing was ever what it
seemed so she could not take it for granted that these waifs were just
waifs.
But that did not keep her from smiling, and in the shelter of Serun's
protection, she dug in her embroidered pouch, and brought out two
metal discs, which she tossed, with a fairly decent aim, towards the
boys' feet. "Show those at the Gilford Mission," she said, "And you'll
get a good meal and a place to sleep. And help if you are needing it."
The Gilford Mission was relatively new, or at least in its current
form; it had originally started as a soup kitchen during the tent
city, so Kitrina had explained, and had mainly been funded by Bailiff
Hillrover's and Judge Allenel Gilford's efforts, but now it was aided
by several of the charitably-minded citizens. It also had recently
been named for the first Judge Gilford, Allenel's father, who had
been murdered in the early days of the Republica. Portia was quite
delighted to be one of those citizens - at last she had a good work to
focus on!
Alisha, who was almost as tall as her dainty step-mother, was a pretty
girl, with soft brown hair curling gently about her pretty face, but
her brown eyes seemed to have knowledge older than her years. She
eased slightly forward, and added, quietly - as if speaking to wary
wild birds - "The food is good and filling, and the people are nice
there."
"And they keep a basket of kittens in the kitchen," Emphie, a smaller
version of her sister, added emphatically; as if that proved
everything. While they had been focused on the boys she had inched
around to hold her hand out to dog Serun had rescued so the gangly pup
could sniff at her palm.
Serun had kept most of his attention on the boys, and the
surroundings, but he spared a moment to see how the greeting was
going.
Emphie and dog were doing fine as the pup was getting a good ear rub.
> "Look there, Ren," he murmured, tossing his head up the street the way
> Renik had come earlier. "You got a shadow today, or what?" he added,
> meaning the newcomer who'd followed Renik to the warehouse.
>
> Out in the market, a cursing Hanta and his son dragged the excited
> hounds one at a time to their pen. They'd started with the ones
> attacking the meat cart, so the group that'd chased Kit, the fox, to
> the crates was still loose, and barking up a storm. The leashes were
> out, but so far none of the irritated passersby had tried to help
> catch them.
[Kit/Lucc]
As Lucc came upon the scene he began helping gather hold of the
leashes.
He glanced up at the self-satisfied vixen that was watching from the
crate, and said, "You're enjoying yourself way too much."
The vixen gave a coughing bark and jumped to the ledge above the
crate.
Shortly a grey-garbed young woman stepped around the street. She had
russet hair and glittering hazel eyes.
The hounds began to bark at her, and she said, "I'll go check and see
how the others are doing."
"I'll be there in a second," Lucc said, "We'll have to collect the one
that Serun rescued."
The Scythe
likin' it!
I need to get the two parts of it back together though.
Since ShadoWolf has started part two, it looks like the simplest thing
to do is to go to that one. So far Mirro and the Mercene group
haven't met yet, so I don't see any difficulty. My next post will be
a reply to [Thief/Open] 2 - The Art of Thievery
[Admin] Another thing I noticed is that replies cut off the [T] [Thief/
Open]. I find those really useful to identify which posts go together
as threads. When replying, would you Edit Subject and replace the [T]
[Thief/Open]? They always get replaced by Re:
I've been reading all the posts starting back in 2003, and none of
them show the thread name, so it's hard to follow stories.
Thanks!
Robert
AKA The Scythe
storytlr
It may be how the newsreaders work for either the "re" or the thread
name as I know the posts I put on did have thread headers. I'm using
Google groups, and I'll watch and see what is happening.
Cathy
The Scythe
The Scythe
The Scythe
[Admin] This thread is continued in [Thief/Open] 2 – The Art of
Thievery
Robert